


Footprints in History

by ThisNothingInTheMiddle



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, Sorry Chunsterton, There's not much Ian though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 16:09:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17165087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisNothingInTheMiddle/pseuds/ThisNothingInTheMiddle
Summary: In ancient Egypt, amidst the creation of history on the Giza plateau, Barbara Wright is approached by Dr Evelyn Smythe, who explains that they have a friend in common. Meanwhile, the Doctor runs into an old, young friend. Can they discover who is meddling with history?





	Footprints in History

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to Classic Who Secret Santa.

The sand baked in the heat, Barbara could feel it through the bottom of her shoes. According to the Doctor, Egypt wasn’t as hot thousands of years in the past as it was in the 20th century, but Barbara was sure she wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. It was probably her English blood, used to clouds and rain. She wished she had thought to bring an umbrella from the _Tardis_ to provide some shade.

Despite the heat, she smiled. Back in her own time, something Barbara had adored was visiting old cities. Athens, Rome, Istanbul; places even older than the colleges and castles of England. Where you could see the ruins and easily imagine the millennia of history that had surrounded them. Of course, actually visiting that history was a hundred times better.

Now, for instance, Barbara was standing just outside a store in the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The _Tardis_ ’ crew had not long ago discovered that they had landed in a village which had been established in order to house workmen while they worked on a nearby construction project. The streets of the town were made up of mostly residential and almost identical buildings, pressed against one another. They were obviously simple structures designed to be quick and easy to build. The effect was that the many streets looked the same to Barbara’s untrained eye, reminding her of some housing estates back in the 20th century.

The construction project which was the workers’ purpose for living here became obvious as soon as the _Tardis_ crew had looked in the right direction. The locals Barbara had spoken to so far had called the village “Pyramid Town.” But not just any pyramids; they were at the Giza plateau, in the shadow of the largest pyramids of Ancient Egypt.

This was an opportunity that every historian would envy. Barbara couldn’t help but wonder if she would have accepted such a chance to travel to the past even if she hadn’t been taken on the journey against her will. (‘Kidnapping’ seems like a rather harsh word in retrospect, but not at all inaccurate.)

A man held out a small loaf of bread for Barbara, breaking through her thoughts, and she smiled at him in thanks. She retreated from the bakery storefront, although there wasn’t much of a queue for its services anymore. A few minutes ago the streets had been filled with workers, moving from home to construction site and vice versa, probably due to a change of work shift.

Barbara squinted at the sky and tapped her fingers on her leg. Her watch was effectively useless now that she kept changing the time around it, but she was certain that she had organised to meet Vicki here sometime soon. Barbara couldn’t help but be a little concerned; even though she loved walking in history, being strangers in a new time was as disconcerting as being strangers in a new place. More so, even, because it meant there was only three other people on the planet right now who even knew who she was.

Which was why it was a little surprising when a completely unfamiliar voice called to her from across the street. “Ms Wright?”

Walking across the street towards her was an older lady, acting as though she’d just recognised an acquaintance. Barbara blinked. “Yes? I’m sorry, have we met?”

“We have not, no. I’m sorry to startle you. I was told you would be around here somewhere, and I assumed you were the right person because of the clothing and skin colour.”

Barbara noticed that the woman made a good point; like Barbara, she wore a cardigan and some long pants. Not very Ancient Egyptian.

“You’re a… time traveller?”

“That’s right, dear, like you. And like you, I travel with the Doctor. I’m Dr Evelyn Smythe.”

“Barbara Wright,” Barbara answered automatically, and they shook hands. “You travel with the Doctor? He’s never mentioned you before. Oh, not to be rude, I’m sure that he…” She still felt a little wrong-footed and wasn’t entirely sure what to say.

“Not at all. Your Doctor hasn’t actually met me yet. I’m friends with him in his future.”

“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense.” Life with the Doctor had forced Barbara to concede that many things could make sense despite their absurdity. At least, they didn’t make any less sense than anything else in her mad new life. “And that would explain how you knew I’d be around here.”

“That’s right!” said Dr Smythe, happy that Barbara could catch on. “We landed here tracking something or other- I think the Doctor said ‘temporal aberration,’ I don’t know and it’s not like he bothers to explain it to me- and then he remembered visiting here before. He told me that I might be interested in meeting a fellow historian.”

“Oh!” Barbara said again, brighter this time. “A historian! From the 20th century as well?”

“Just missed it. I’m from 2001, Sheffield.”

“1963, London.”

They shook hands again and couldn’t help but laugh at the strange form of introduction.

“Nice to know they still have historians in 2001,” Barbara said. “Although I am technically just a history teacher, at a high school. Or I was. No doctorate.”

“Nothing wrong with that. And I’m quite sure you could become Dr Wright if you so wanted. Especially with our… unique brand of experience.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking since we landed here about how lucky I am, as a student of history, to have the chance to visit times like this.”

“Oh yes!” Agreed Dr Smythe readily. “All the places we learnt about in classes and books… although admittedly I’m no expert on ancient Egypt.”

“Nor I. What’s your speciality?”

“Oh, Tudor England, Elizabethan England. 16th century.”

“That’s similar to my own- the Aztecs in the 15th century. And also the French Revolution. Mind you, after my time in the _Tardis_ I have slightly mixed feelings about those subjects.”

“Oh dear, I can imagine. I’ve always thought about meeting Queen Elizabeth, and then the Doctor promises me a visit and what happens? I’m thrown into the Tower of London by her bloodthirsty predecessor.”

“The Doctor once told me that he was thrown into the Tower by Henry VIII.”

“Hmph, fat lot of good that it did him. We’d still be in there if I had left it to him to find a way out. Is something wrong dear?”

Barbara had just looked up and down the street, suddenly remembering about Vicki. “It’s just that I was going to meet a friend and I’m not sure where she is. All these buildings look the same, but I’m _sure_ that this is where we agreed on because I saw the _Tardis_ one street over.”

“Oh no,” said Evelyn, her face falling, “but that’s _my_ _Tardis_. I mean, my Doctor’s _Tardis_. That’s where _we_ parked. So this must be the wrong street.”

“Drat,” said Barbara. “I’ll have to go and find my _Tardis_ then.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Barbara set off with a determined power walk, but quickly slowed down, partly to not leave behind the older woman, but mostly due to the heat. As they rounded the end of the road, Barbara saw the police box that she had erroneously used to mark her location. Now that she knew what it was, she could spot small differences between it and her usual place of residence. But even though it was a slightly different shade, the blue paint was still awfully enticing amongst the uniform beige buildings and boiling sand.

“Do you happen to have umbrellas in your _Tardis_?” Barbara said, “I’m not really used to this heat…”

“Do you know, that’s a very clever idea,” said Evelyn, and led the way.

 

* * *

 

 

“Vicki??” The strangely dressed man gaped at Vicki, who turned away from the fabric hanging decoratively on the front of a house.

“Er, yes,” she said. “Who are you? I mean, not to be rude, but have we met?”

“Don’t you recognise me?” The man said, holding out his arms as if to present himself.  Then the stranger seemed to notice his arms and did a double take. “Oh, I suppose not.”

Vicki was certain that she would have remembered meeting the man, especially if he had been wearing then the same mismatched patchwork coat that he was now.

“You’re not someone I meet in the future, are you? Oh dear, this might be hard to explain, but I’m a time traveller.” Vicki sounded out the last two words very slowly, in order to make sure he understood.

“No no. I’m the Doctor!”

Vicki stared at him. “Doctor what?”

“The Doctor! _The_ Doctor. Your Doctor!”

“ _My_ Doctor?” Vicki laughed, “You’re not him, he wouldn’t dress like _that_.”

The Doctor looked offended. “I _am_ him, and I’ll have you know that this is-”

“Unless,” Vicki suddenly looked very serious again, “You’re the Doctor when he was younger!”

“I-”

“Very, very, very younger!”

“Not-”

“But then how would you recognise me if you hadn’t met me yet?”

“If you’d just-”

“Unless your memory was running backwards!”

“What?”

“Because you’ve done too much time travelling! And now you need _my_ help to put it back!”

There was a pause while the man waited to see if Vicki had anything else to add, and then he said “No.”

“Oh.”

“Yes-”

“So you’re not the Doctor.”

“I am the Doctor!” The man said with exasperation, “I’m the Doctor from the future; I’ve just changed my body since I travelled with you.”

“You can’t-”

“ _You_ can’t. I can.” The man spoke quickly before Vicki could start theorising again. “Look, how else would I know that I met you on the planet Dido, and that you crashed there while on the way to the human colony on Astra? You travel through space and time in the _Tardis_ , you like cute animals and robots, you’re good friends with Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Steven Taylor, you’re scared of heights, and… you once almost poisoned a Roman emperor.”

“Well I wasn’t the one who gave him the idea to burn Rome,” Vicki said, before hugging him. “Doctor!”

“Vicki!”

“Who’s Steven?”

“Hm? Oh, never mind that.”

Vicki drew back and laughed at the way he had hummed. It was as if her Doctor had been de-aged by some 60 years. Maybe 70. She wasn’t very good at ages, and this strange encounter certainly wasn’t helping that.

“You look so _young_.”

“So are you, my dear.”

“I’m not _that_ young. Hey,” she pointed at the fabric she had been examining, “do you know where we could find some of this fabric? I’m sure it could make a really retro dress…”

 

* * *

  

The humming _Tardis_ interior was, unsurprisingly, much cooler than the streets outside. When Evelyn returned to the console room with some umbrellas, Barbara was looking around her with polite interest. Evelyn rather liked the other historian, because everything she did was polite. A very affable young woman. Although she supposed ‘young’ was a relative term; considering the time difference, the two of them must have actually been born around the same time. Evelyn wasn’t going to ask about birthdays though, she didn’t want to be rude.

Barbara did seem a little surprised by her surroundings, so Evelyn asked “has the _Tardis_ changed much since your day?”

“A bit, yes. It seems sort of… empty now. I was expecting a few computer banks.”

“Do you know, that’s exactly what I said when I first saw this place.”

“And there’s not really any furniture either.”

“I’ve always meant to bring that up with the Doctor. If we’ve just run in here, away from the Evil Empire of Graal or whatever, then a sit down to catch our breath would be _most_ appreciated.”

“Yes, and there’s only a couple of wooden chairs in my _Tardis_. What we should have is some armchairs, or a comfortable couch.”

“Do you know what we really need?” Evelyn said, “A union. Companions United.” They laughed.

  

* * *

 

 

“Vicki… are you absolutely… certain that… this is the… right way?” the Doctor puffed. He was terribly delighted to have been reunited with his old, old (or old young, depending how you looked at it) friend. But one thing that he had not missed about her, and that he was remembering rather clearly now, was her seemingly endless energy.

After Vicki had suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be meeting up with Barbara, she and the Doctor had searched for Vicki’s _Tardis_ for some time, but with no success. The Doctor’s first mistake was to announce that he had an uncanny and infallible sense of direction, promptly before the duo had discovered that they were quite lost in the rows of identical streets, much to Vicki’s mirth. The Doctor’s second mistake was to agree to Vicki’s plan of cutting through some houses, to get from a dead end to where Vicki assured him was somewhere she would recognise.

This plan involved climbing over a not unimpressive wall. The duo stood now in a garden on the other side. The garden wasn’t too large, but had enough room for some trees, substantial shrubbery, and a small pool. The Doctor was out of breath thanks to the wall that he had just scaled, while Vicki, who he had helped lift over, was cheerfully examining all the different plants.

“Oh, I thought there would be a door to the street here,” Vicki said. In fact only one of the four sides of the garden had a break in the unhelpful wall, and that was a doorway into what was obviously somebody’s house.

The Doctor groaned. “We must be in a private garden. Making _that_ very probably the private residence of someone wealthy or powerful. Which means _I_ have to haul both you and myself over another wall.”

“Don’t make it sound like the end of the world, you’ve done it once already!” Vicki tried to be encouraging. “Your old self wouldn’t have been able to do it even once!”

Before the Doctor could reply that he missed being so lucky, voices started to waft into the garden from the inside of the house. Vicki and the Doctor exchanged glances, then quickly moved for cover. Their movements, however, were in opposite directions, and caused them to collide. After a quick and quiet scuffle, they eventually moved as one in the direction Vicki had been aiming for.

The duo crouched behind some shrubbery, which the Doctor rather doubted would hide them under very much scrutiny. The voices from inside the house grew louder and easier to distinguish.

“…but who has ordered it, does anyone actually know?”

“I’m not sure sir, but the architect seems quite taken by the idea.”

“Two pyramids and now two sphinxes… I think we will spend the rest of our lives out here, and the rest of our children’s’ lives as well…”

The Doctor tilted his head, and spoke in a whisper. Or rather, a stage whisper. “Two sphinxes? There’s only one sphinx of particular not on the Giza plateau, and-”

“SHH,” said Vicki.

“Shh? SHH?!” the Doctor was incredulous.

“Yes, SHHH,” Vicki confirmed.

“You SHH.”

“SH!”

The Doctor pouted, knowing he couldn’t get the final word without completely tipping the situation into farce.

The voices were indistinguishable again, coming from further inside the house.

Vicki motioned for the Doctor to follow her to the opposite wall of the garden, which he did with extreme reluctance. 

 

* * *

 

 

Evelyn pulled a lever and the _Tardis_ doors opened again, letting in a noticeable ripple of heat. “Shall we?”

The two of them moved to walk through the doors, and as they did Evelyn couldn’t help but catch her breath at the sight ahead of them. She’d seen it several times already today, but it took some getting used to.

Ahead of them, long past the end of the workers’ village but rising far above its skyline, was the Great Pyramid of Giza, the tallest man-made object for thousands of years. But this was not the pyramid of the 20th century, which had dulled and crumbled. A layer of limestone that had long since disappeared from the pyramids by that era was freshly attached here, making the pyramid a smooth triangle rather than a series of steps. The most dramatic effect of the limestone, however, was that it reflected the midday sun, making the pyramid give off a blinding light. In the sight of the colossal, shining edifice, the _Tardis’_ interior seemed almost dim and dull.

Evelyn turned away from the light to lock the _Tardis_ door behind her.

  

* * *

 

As the sun slowly wandered to the other half of the sky, the Great Pyramid of Giza stopped glowing and started to cast its shadow, which creeped in the direction of the pyramid town. From the streets, the monolith was now duller but no less imposing.

“Of course,” the Doctor was saying, “the second pyramid is currently being built, and will be the resting place for Pharaoh Khufu’s son, Khafre.”

“I know,” said Vicki, not for the first time.

“And the third of the Great Pyramids, significantly smaller but still amply impressive, will be built for Khafre’s son-”

“Monkaura, yes _I know_ ,” repeated Vicki. “Barbara and the- well, you- told me all this when we first arrived.”

“It’s ‘Menkaure,’ but close enough,” the Doctor conceded. “Bless my soul, I never knew you actually listened to a word I said.”

Vicki stuck out her tongue.

 

* * *

 

  

Barbara and Evelyn (as she insisted she be called instead of ‘Dr Smythe’) had sighed in relief when they finally spied a second English police box in the maze of residence. As much as Barbara wished they could wait inside, away from the heat, she knew the most sensible thing to do was to wait for Vicki at their pre-arranged meeting spot. What was it they said about being lost- always stay where you were and you’re more likely to be found.

Although, waiting wasn’t so much a hardship with Evelyn for company. As the two ate the bread Barbara had bought, they swapped stories, jokes, and tips about their travelling. Barbara had spent so much time cut off from all but three other people in the entire universe that she had almost completely forgotten how heartening it was to talk with someone who could relate with your situation. She got an impression that Evelyn felt at least partly the same way. It felt like they could have chatted for the entire day without any effort.

Now Evelyn was telling her about the Doctor’s sweet tooth. “Oh yes, he’d do anything for some chocolate cake. Don’t tell him I said that.”

Barbara was laughing. “I’m not sure I could imagine my Doctor acting like that. I’ve seen him with an appetite once in a blue moon, but that’s about it.”

“Well, try feeding him something chocolate-related, and you might be surprised. Before meeting the Doctor I was used to carrying some drinking cocoa with me, and it’s not a habit I’ve given up since.”

At this, Barbara laughed even harder. “You just reminded me of when we visited the Aztecs. The Doctor made hot cocoa for a woman he met there, but doing so meant he had proposed to her. He didn’t know until afterward that he had become engaged!”

Evelyn laughed along with her. “You know, he also got engaged on my first trip in the _Tardis_. He saved Queen Mary’s life, and as repayment she set him up to be married!”

“He’s quite the lady’s man, our Doctor.”

“And why not?” said a boldly-dressed man as he approached them. “I imagine that I am quite the catch.”

“Doctor!” said Evelyn.

“Doctor?” said Barbara.

“Barbara!” said Vicki, appearing behind the man.

“Vicki!” said Barbara, relieved.

“Barbara,” said the man, who stepped forward and held her hands up in his. “It’s such a pleasure to see you again, my dear.”

“Is it really you?” Barbara asked. She glanced at Evelyn who nodded.

Before the Doctor could answer, Vicki spoke over his shoulder. “It is! He’s changed his body, like… what was that ancient film you told me about? Invasion of the Body Snatchers!”

“I am _not_ like Invasion of the Body Snatchers!” the Doctor said emphatically, “This is my _own_ body! Just… changed.”

Barbara laughed. “I’ll take your word for it, Doctor. Truth be told, it isn’t any stranger than a time-travelling police box that’s larger in than out.”

“Hmm,” the Doctor hummed contentedly, “That’s right. What’s life in the _Tardis_ if not a string of impossible things to believe before breakfast. That’s a lives summed up.” And suddenly he was all action, letting go of Barbara and turning to his current travelling companion. “Now Evelyn, you wouldn’t happen to know where the _Tardis_ is?”

“Yes, I think so. It’s quite a difficult town to navigate, though.”

“It reminds me of pre-fab colonies back home,” Vicki spoke up, “before they started adding holo-ways and art houses to make it more interesting.”

“Yes, yes,” the Doctor said, “It would be helpful if I could use the _Tardis_ , but if it’d take too long-”

“But Barbara’s _Tardis_ is much closer, just round the corner from here,” said Evelyn.

“Of course! Barbara, Vicki, lead the way.”

 

* * *

 

 

The four of them walked into the _Tardis_ console room. Evelyn, being the only one unfamiliar with the room, looked around with interest.

The Doctor only gave a quick “Hello old girl, it’s only me,” before becoming engrossed in the central console and beginning to mumble to himself as he fiddled with it.

Barbara joined Evelyn as she examined an intricately-designed bronze clock. “You were right, there are quite a few bits and bobs around this place,” said Evelyn. “It makes it feel quite homely, really.” Addressing the Doctor, she said “Why don’t we have more furnishings in our _Tardis_ , to liven things up a bit?”

“Hmm, yes,” replied the Doctor, who was paying a great deal of attention, just none of it to Evelyn.

“Doctor.”

“What?” He looked up, and then realised what he’d done. “Oh, I’m sorry Evelyn, but these systems are being singularly unhelpful.”

“I thought this place used to be your’s?”

“It was. It was a real classic too.” He made a quick glance around the room, giving it a fond smile. “But alas, the classics aren’t always what they’re hyped up to be. That may be a sore point to make in the company of historians, but there you go.”

Evelyn knew he’d get to the point eventually.

He continued, “I’ve been trying to search for historical records of a second Great Sphinx of Giza, which might be related to our time aberration, but I can _barely_ \- _navigate_ \- the _display_.” He frustratedly prodded at some knobs a few times to emphasize his point. Evelyn saw that the Doctor kept looking up at a television screen set into the wall, which displayed nonsensical lines and shapes.

“You know,” said the Doctor, “if there’s one solitary upside to returning to Gallifrey, it’s updating the databanks operating system. As it is, this is all hopelessly out of date.”

“Naturally. Given the circumstances...”

The Doctor huffed. “It’s out of date even for this model and relative time. And rather poorly maintained too, it must be said.” At that he looked over at Barbara and Vicki. “Actually, where is-”

“Where is who, hmm?” said a new voice.

Standing, almost posing, in the doorway, was an old man wearing a waistcoat and checked pants. He glared at the Doctor in a theatrical fashion, with superiority written in his face. Given the evidence, Evelyn could guess who this was.

“Or more to the point, who are you, and what gives you the right to do anything to my ship?

The old man, the old Doctor, marched towards his older self when the latter made no move to step away from the console. In the doorway behind the old Doctor was a younger man wearing plain clothes, who automatically moved to stand near Barbara.

The Doctor, the newer Doctor that is, held his ground at the console. “What gives me the right to use this ship is the fact that I am its owner and its pilot.”

The old man spluttered in indignation as he grabbed his lapels so tightly that Evelyn worried he might rip them from his coat. He stopped right in front of his other self, although is attempt at intimidation was dampened by the fact that he was slightly shorter. “Outrageous! _I_ am this ship’s sole owner and pilot!”

“On that we are agreed. Look closer.”

The old Doctor was confused by the reply, but before he could say anything, his face suddenly turned white in realisation. “No, it’s impossible. It cannot be,” he said more to himself than out loud.

“I’m afraid it can be, and is so.”

“You?”

“Me. Or, rather, you.”

 “Me; you?! Hm!” The old Doctor stood up straight again, reclenching his lapels.

“It’s true. I am you, whether we like it or not.”

“I’m sorry,” the younger man spoke for the first time, “I’m afraid I must have missed something.”

Vicki stepped forward quickly to explain. “Ian, this is the Doctor. Our Doctor, but from his future, and he looks younger because he changes bodies as he grows older.”

“Right, I see,” said Ian, clearly none the wiser. He looked a little desperately at his other companion. “Barbara?”

“It’s true, Ian. He’s an older Doctor, who can remember travelling with us. And this is his current travelling companion, Dr Evelyn Smythe.”

Ian, though still bewildered, held out his hand for Evelyn to shake. “A pleasure.” He turned towards the Doctors. “But-”

“Oh, not now, Chesterton!” The old Doctor looked like he was about to prod his other self, before thinking better of it. “Don’t you know the dangers of this sort of reckless meddling?!”

“Yes, yes,” the Doctor said, “better than you do, in fact. I only realised that you were in this place and time after I landed, and I _had_ intended to convince you to leave without fuss- although if you could do anything without fuss is uncertain.”

“Hm! How thoroughly hypocritical! And why, I would like to know, should I be the one to leave, just because-”

“-because,” interrupted the Doctor, “my _Tardis_ has detected a temporal aberration in this vicinity, small yet noticeable, that I didn’t want to exasperate with a witless and unwarranted walking time paradox.”

“ _Me_ the time paradox? _You_ , my friend, are the more dangerous threat to the web of time. And what’s this ridiculousness about a temporal abrasion, er, aberration.” The old Doctor pushed around the new and flicked a few switches while watching the screen on the wall. “My _Tardis_ can evidently pick up readings of nothing of the sort.”

“Your instruments aren’t very up-to-date and you know it. Although my instruments don’t provide much more detail. All I know at the moment is that there’s some word going around that the Great Sphinx-”

“The Sphinx,” the old Doctor said, “Yes! We have made the same discovery! Chasterton and I were observing the construction work just out of town and found that the Sphinx was missing, and-”

“Missing? We heard that there were two sphinxes in development now.”

“I wouldn’t know where you pick up such gossip. I only saw one sphinx myself.”

“Wha-” the Doctor narrowed his eyes in concentration. “I thought you said it was missing?”

“We found one getting constructed,” Ian spoke up, “but it wasn’t the original.”

The old Doctor nodded. “Yes, you see, the original Great Sphinx was built long before the pyramids themselves. We asked where this Sphinx was, tried to find someone in charge, but we received no satisfactory answer. There must be something dreadfully wrong with history.”

The new Doctor boggled. “No it wasn’t!”

“Wasn’t what? What are you talking about?”

“The Great Sphinx was built now, during the 4th Dynasty, alongside Giza’s pyramids; the idea that it was built long beforehand is a misconception!”

The old Doctor was frowning. “I think I know my history, dear boy.”

“Think? _Think_? Where do you learn it from, the 19th century? The dark ages? Evelyn, tell him.”

Evelyn shrugged. “It’s not really my area.”

“It’s not my area either,” said Ian, looking a little guilty. “Doctor, supposing you- I mean we- could have got it wrong?”

The old Doctor looked almost embarrassed. “Hmm. It is… a remote possibility. Yes, a remote possibility… that we were mistaken. Nobody’s perfect, you know. I can’t be expected to know everything.”

The new Doctor sighed. “You don’t know everything _yet_ , in any case.”

Before an argument could flare up again, Barbara said “So what does this all mean? Surely Ian and the Doctor just asking around couldn’t have changed the timeline.”

“Don’t forget the butterfly and the hurricane, Ms Wright,” the new Doctor said. “They could have inspired the building of another sphinx, or by describing it to so many people they could have planted an idea that goes on to change something else. The Sphinx isn’t finished yet, and by acting like it is, they were effectively telling these people their futures. Which is never a good idea.”

“We must undo any possible damage,” said the old Doctor.

“ _I_ must undo any possible damage. I rather think that this is a one-Doctor job.”

For once, the old Doctor didn’t argue. “Hm, yes, well. Far be it from me to take away from you such purpose in your life.” He still looked a little awkward about making such a historical faux pas, but he still held his head up high, determined to keep his authority. “Vicki, Barbara, Chesterton, we’ll be leaving soon.” And then he moved over to Evelyn and shook her hand, surprising her. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get to know each other, Dr Smythe.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” said Evelyn, “You can look forward to meeting me.”

The Doctor gave a high pitched chuckle at that as he turned back to the console, ignoring his future self entirely as he started saying his goodbyes.

Barbara shook Evelyn’s hand as well. “It’s a pity we couldn’t have more time to talk.”

“Yes, I know. I’d suggest we do this again, only it’s a little hard to set a lunch date in our line of work.”

“If I’m ever in Tudor England I’ll look you up.”

“Yes, and chances are the Doctor and I will be up for execution again.”

“Well, chances are that _my_ Doctor and I will be in the next cell along.”

Evelyn laughed. “The more things change.”

 

* * *

  

The _Tardis_ faded from visibility, and the Doctor and Evelyn watched it go. “What happens to them, your friends? Or what _happened_ to them.”

“Barbara and Ian eventually got back to their own time in the 1960s. And Vicki left me in Ancient Troy, of all places.”

“Isn’t life funny,” Evelyn mused. The two of them started walking away from the square indentation in the sand. “You know, Barbara and Ian might still be around in my time. They’d probably be around my age, too. We should check up on them next time we visit.”

The Doctor made a non-committal noise. “Maybe. You could start a cardigan club.”

“Doctor, about the aberration. Do you really think that just asking about the Sphinx could have caused it? It seems like such a small thing, and it makes me wonder if we change history all the time.”

“Maybe we do. But honestly, Evelyn, I don’t know. Back when I was _him_ , I wasn’t the endless fount of historical knowledge that I am now, but at the same time I was more careful about interfering with history. I played on that to get rid of myself just now, because I knew that whether he was the cause of the aberration or not, his presence would only make things more difficult. We can do some proper checks on the timeline when we get back to the _Tardis_. Come on.”

Evelyn could feel the sand baking under her feet, and she wished she had thought to bring- “Oh no!”

“What is it?” the Doctor asked.

“I just remembered, I left our umbrellas on board the _Tardis_. With Barbara, I mean.”

“Oh well, I’m sure I can find my rainbow brolly somewhere.”

The two of them walked on, leaving footprints in the sand.

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being a lot longer than I expected. I didn't even have much of a plot in mind when I started writing (which probably explains why what plot there is is pretty sketchy.)
> 
> I wanted to use the setting of Ancient Egypt because I've been studying it recently, but that definitely doesn't mean that this is historically accurate. Most of the facts I got from memory and wikipedia. I promise I don't use the same method on my essays.


End file.
